Tuesday, January 31, 2012

From the Cradle

I started out early on as a German car fanatic.  My dad worked for VW of America in their parts distribution warehouse (who also helped ship stuff for Stoddard).  He said that he could have bought 4.5x15 Fuchs (NOS) for about 100 bucks each at work.  Just imagine what those would be worth today.  We never had any P-car parts laying around, but he always had VW projects (restorations, flips, baja bugs, kit cars) and up until a few years ago, still had boxes and boxes and boxes of NOS VW parts; German dual port heads still coated in cosmoline, NOS single port solex carbs, exhaust systems etc..  



Working where he did, he did have access to a pretty big discount on new Porsches (I cant recall if it was dealer cost, or an employee discount).  With that in mind, he immediately signed up as soon as the 944 was announced and had one of the 1st ones in Columbus.  This planted the seed for my obsession.  I remember sitting in the passenger seats, not able to touch the floor.  I remember thinking it would talk to me like the car from 'Night Rider'.  He sold it after 9 mos for a profit (it was the new model and there were waiting lists).  Of course that crushed me and stayed with me.  When I turned 16 I bugged him to let me get a 944 as a car (they were cheap -about 3K for a driver).  He refused and said he would only let me get an aircooled car after i had my drivers license for a year, and i would have to help pay for it of course.  So for two years i worked and saved and we eventually got Fritz.

Growing up though, we always had other German cars too; mainly BMWs and Mercedes.  My first car ended up being the diesel monster, an 81 240D.  It was THE German tank, a true Panzer.  It died hitting a telephone pole at about 35 - 45 MPH (kids from school in the back seat were fighting and distracting me, I wasn't looking and boom.  I was young and stupid, but the car saved us, and is why my dad got me the behemoth as a first car in the first place.  Here is the only pic I have of it.. too bad it was too late. 




Eventually I would come full circle and fall in love with the 3 series.  My mom had one when i was a kid.  When i turned 20 I would get an 81 e21 320I and then eventually an e30 325E and an e30 325I.  To this day I still love e30 BMWs.


One of the reasons I love my E46 so much is that it reminds me of my old e30.  One day I need to get an e30 M3, and a 944 to add to my stable.   Anyways, what is the point of this ramble?  I am not really sure, but it is amazing what sticks to us at such an early age, leaving a deep impression that turns into a passion which will stick with us for the rest of our lives. 

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